This invention relates to reduced calorie bread having higher fiber content than is conventional and more particularly, to reduced calorie white, wheat and similar types of bread, all of which have less calories and higher fiber content than is ordinarily the case in conventional breads.
It has long been desired, and many attempts have been made in the food industry, to produce a low calorie enriched bread which may be used in place of the standard enriched bread, since it has become a standard in the industry and widely accepted by young and old alike. Sliced white bread has become so common to the consuming public that its volume of consumption has never been approached by any of the other breads combined, i.e., ryes, proteins, rolls, and the like. Contributing to its appeal is the taste, softness, toastability, texture, and eating quality of white bread. Further, its use for making large number of sandwiches daily has brought its use to the point that there has been no close competitor in satisfying the consuming public.
However, with this standard white enriched bread, there is a definite problem of the amount of caloric intake per bread slice and in some cases, in elderly persons, the white enriched bread has affected their digestive and elimination systems due to the consistency and texture of white bread. It has become extremely difficult for people to diet, as well as for old people to change their eating habits, because of the desire and habits of using white enriched bread. One of the past problems in substituting a low calorie bread for the standard white enriched bread has been the reluctance of the consuming public, children to adults, to reach for the low calorie bread. Some of these factors include: "It did not look the same"; "It did not feel the same."; and "It did not have the same texture and taste as enriched white bread." Therefore, reduced calorie bread has never been accepted by the general public, to their health detriment.
Previous attempts to utilize various materials in low calorie, yeast leavened baked products are illustrated by: The Glicksman et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,676,150 which includes a reference to a copending and apparently abandoned application, U.S. Ser. No. 753,708 assigned to General Foods Corporation, it being clearly stated in the Glicksman et al patent that the subject matter of the Swanson application fails to disclose how a satisfactory bread or any other yeast leavened product can be made with the use of alpha-cellulose. Another attempt is described in the Tsantir U.S. Pat. No. 3,767,423 assigned to The Pillsbury Company, wherein a low calorie bread is prepared by employing, as a replacement of a portion of the conventional dough ingredients, a mixture of finely divided edible hulls of vegetable origin comprising a mixture of rice hulls and soybean hulls. In the Background portion of the Tsantir patent reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,348,951. Other examples of prior art found in German Pat. No. 1,959,196; U.S. Pat. No. 3,574,634 in the name of Richard L. Singer and U.S. Pat. No. 3,023,104 in the name of Battista, assigned to American Viscose Corporation.
None of these products referred to in the above-mentioned patents has proved to be a satisfactory solution to the problem as outlined above. The compositions of this invention, and the methods utilized to produce bread products from them, overcome the problems by providing a reduced calorie enriched bread having a high fiber content while maintaining standard bread eating quality and texture without reducing mineral or protein value in the compositions of this invention.